In the field of woodworking, glue or other adhesives are often used to join two or more pieces of wood. Many conventional clamping devices are constructed to hold work pieces together in an aligned or perpendicular relationship while the adhesive is cured. Many attempts have been made to provide clamping devices for clamping work pieces together at angles other than aligned or perpendicular relationships. For example, German Patent No. 3,922,140 describes an adjustable clamping device having a pair of elongate rails extending at variable angles to each other and joined by an intermediate rail. Semi-circular plates having arcuate slots formed therein are secured to the rails. The semi-circular plates are used to select a suitable angle formed between the elongate rails. Screw clamps extend through the slots and may be tightened to maintain the rails in the preselected angular position so that work pieces placed along the rails can be joined at the selected angle. However, this device is cumbersome to use and complicated to make. Therefore, there is a need for a simple, yet effective, clamping device for joining work pieces together at angles other than 90 and 180 degree angles.
The present invention provides a device for clamping work pieces together at obtuse angles. The device comprises an elongate support member having an angle element attached to and projecting outwardly at an obtuse angle from the support member. A clamping projection is mounted on a sleeve that is shiftable longitudinally along the support member toward and away from the angle element. A locking mechanism is operably attached to the sleeve for resisting sliding movement of the sleeve when the locking mechanism is in a locked position and for permitting sliding movement of the sleeve when the locking mechanism is in an unlocked position.